Zachary Sayings

These first 2 make my heart sing as I watch Zachary begin to grow up after we hit rock bottom with obedience this summer.

12/4/10
Dane: Zachary please turn off the light (for bedtime)
Z: Dad!...(about to make a fantastic argument)...I guess I should.

12/5/10
Stacey: Zachary, did you wash your hands?
Z: Yes.
Stacey: Are you telling me the truth?
Z: Mom, you can trust my word.

This one is for Dane.

12/6/10
Dada (my dad): Who was the first president of the United States of America?
Z: Jonathan Edwards

Kingdom Toys

I thought you all might appreciate this exchange…

The Background
I’ve been trying to give Zachary a bigger Kingdom worldview. This concept came out of a talk by my pastor’s wife, Karen Hodge. The point being that there is more to life than “his” little world and certainly than “his” toys. So one way we’ve been discussing this is by calling our toys “Kingdom toys”. The only 2 things we will take with us after we die are the Word of the Lord and the souls of men. So everything, including our toys, are here to be used by everyone for these purposes. They are simply tools to further the Kingdom. They will get played with, broken, lost, stolen…and that’s fine. They’re Kingdom toys.

The Conversation
(Zachary pulls out my old gameboy and turns it on.)

Me: Zachary please put away my toy.

Zachary: Mom, this is a Kingdom toy!

Hugging

I've told Zachary that when he was born I declared that he would be "the most kissed baby in the whole world" - and the kisses haven't stopped yet. So he told me recently that Nathan was going to be "the most hugged baby in the whole world" - which may become a reality since it seems like every time I turn around Zachary is hugging on Nathan.

To Blog or Not to Blog?

Yes, I am starting up my blog again. Is that allowed?

Why am I doing this?

Well, I find Facebook to be deficient. At first, I stopped blogging because the time required for this blog was overwhelming. (Can anyone relate?) I'm not a writer, so I was using this blog mostly as a place to collect pictures and videos of Zachary for family and friends. I realized that I could do that on Facebook with much more efficiency. However, I was barely even keeping up with that. (Ok, I've been awful about it!) Well, I had promised myself that I would not touch my blog unless I could at least keep up with the photos on Facebook. It took a while, but Mission Accomplished. I thought that with this new achievement Facebook would be sufficient, but then the question came . . . Where do I post longer thoughts about what I'm learning and stories about what the kids are up to? The Status Update just didn't seem like the right place for that sort of thing.

So...I have decided to blog.

A Day at the Parks

Park #1: Kiddie Park for ages 2-5

Park #2: Kid Park ages 5-12

There were mostly middle school kids there, but that didn't stop Zachary and Daddy from climbing to the top of the rocket ship! "Whee!!"

Zachary's turn...Yikes!

He could pretty much do everything there.

Swinging in the sunset
Oh Daddy, you're so silly.

(Yes, he still likes to wear the noodle necklace.)

The Blister

Zachary was wearing a necklace made of uncooked Ziti noodles that he made in Sunday School when he wiped out head first on the ground. When he got up there was a crushed noodle under where his mouth had landed. Zachary only cries if the pain is really bad. He cried. So I knew something was coming. Sure enough later in the day I noticed this blood blister on his lip. Poor guy.

Watching Sunday Afternoon Basketball with Daddy